Social Media Account
The importance of Social Media
In this day and age, Social Media pages are a critical part of interacting with and appealing to your audience. These pages can act as personal accounts, where artists post what's going on in their personal life to make the audience feel included, or as hubs to keep the audience informed on what events are going to happen and when (e.g. an artist's next concert, or their next album release date). Social Media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter are effective in appealing towards a younger audience, as these platforms are most used by younger generations. Social Media platforms such as Facebook are effective in appealing towards an older, as these platforms are most used by older generations.
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Social Media Sketch
My Social Media Sketch will consist of accounts dedicated to promoting my artist as well as engaging and interacting with their audience. My possible ideas for the social media account span across multiple platforms: Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter. The reasoning behind multiple different platform ideas is due to the fact that artists use many different platforms to promote their music, and I must decide which platform would be most effective in appealing and interacting with my target audience. All of the aforementioned apps are highly used by my target audience, therefore I have some leeway into how I'll approach this task. Since my target audience consists of teens and young adults, I plan to use prominent apps within this age range (and have selected Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok as my main candidates for the social media account).
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Logo for Social Media accounts
The logo for my artist's Social Media account will be the same as my artist's logo for their career in general. The 'F' within the logo is highlighted within the logo in order to grab the viewer's attention, and both letters use a loud and easy to read font. I've only used two colours for the font, as this makes my artist's identity easier to recognise, and doesn't make the logo look confusing or illegible. By using a bold and clear font for my text, my logo aligns greatly with that of Hip Hop's codes and conventions
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What the possible Social Media accounts would contain
The Instagram account for my artist would contain behind the scenes footage and live performance recordings of my group, as the platform is very useful in keeping an audience informed on the group's everyday life. The YouTube Channel for my artist would consist of the music video (when it's finished) as well as a behind the scenes cut explaining how I made the video. The TikTok account would primarily revolve around spoofs and behind the scenes footage, since the app is mainly used by a younger audience, and I want to appeal to as wide as an audience range as possible.
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My chosen Media Platform
Overall, I've chosen Instagram as my artist's media platform, as I feel that I can insert ideas and genuine behind the scenes post best within this app. This means that my artist's account will also look more authentic as I can post lots of content onto this account, rather than just having a YouTube channel with one music video. TikTok isn't preferable as a platform in comparison to Instagram either, as I feel that the insertion of photography and behind the scenes clips would be better used within Instagram (rather than TikTok), as TikTok focuses primarily on the posting of videos.
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More development on what the account will contain
The Instagram account will contain posts of videos, photos, and reels. Each post will contain a large number of hashtags and locational details in order to reach as wide an audience as possible, and will have a main caption of one word/short sentence. These posts will showcase live performance, behind the scenes, (and when I've finished my music video, a teaser for the video as well). I will also have a number of story "sections", each of which will be dedicated to the group's members, containing photos of the musician in focus. Each story section will be named after each of the members. The posts will be stylish and eye-catching, in order to grab as wide an audience as possible on Instagram.
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Acquiring photos for my Media page
Because a major amount of my social media page was more-or-less going to be a showcase of my actual work, I took a multitude of photos while filming my music video, getting shots of my artists performing to enforce the idea that my group is genuine. Actions and postures are sometimes exaggerated within my photoshoot, in order to make the images more eye-catching for the viewer. I will include some of the captured stills in my Weebly page, in order to give a brief showcase of the style of my work. The style of my photos are relaxed and casual, in order to further build on my idea of connecting my artist with the audience. This is done to give the feel of an actual Hip Hop group, and create a style in which the viewer will be captivated by. The cinematic effect within the footage was caused by environmental factors, as the filming location was sunny and allowed for lots of lens flares to take place. Photography from cast profiling has also been used within my social media page, as it shows the official outfit style of my artist
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Behind the scenes
Lots of social media posts will be of the duo just relaxing or doing everyday things, giving the audience a feeling of inclusion as they're able to see the group as people rather than stars (this links my social media page directly to the idea of star theory). Another reason for why this is going to be done is because I've metaphorically got a lifetime's worth of behind the scene footage of my crew actually preparing for filming, and because of this, I can use the preparation footage as content to fill up the Instagram page, and make my Social Media account feel more and more like a genuine platform for a musician. This idea of inclusion also links my work with Users and Gratification theory, in order to further appeal to my audience. Examples of behind the scenes will be seen with the duo making their way to a destination, as well as just chilling in general
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Cast Profiles
Within my social media page, I'll have posts dedicated to showcasing the two members of my artist duo, this will be done to showcase the photography that I've collected throughout my coursework project, as well as increasing the level of content that one can find within my social media page. Each profile will be specifically labelled within the story section of my Instagram page, categorising each collection of specialised photos through the first name of each band member (UNG MAQ, BIG SAIF). These photos will often be casual, in order make the audience feel included within the setting/scene of the each photo.
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The main social media page appearances
The main people who appear in my social media page are Damaq and Saif, as they are the artists who, together, form Somber Flipside. They will both have equally large representation within the music video, and I will ensure that their portrayal within the social media page depicts them in a relaxed and casual manner. Photos of Damaq and Saif can be seen below, with Damaq appearing as the front character on the left picture, and Saif appearing as the front character on the right picture.
Overall Theme
The main theme of my Social Media page will be of a behind the scenes style, using footage and stills from the outtakes of my production in order to make the audience feel a sense of inclusion with my artist. Most of the shots that I'll use within my media page are close ups or medium distance shots, in order to build on the personal atmosphere that I'm trying to develop. Users and Gratification theory is a major influence on the style of my Social media page, and I'm working to try and diverge from Star Theory (as I want my artist to be seen as normal people, rather than unattainable idols). This will be done through portraying the members in casual clothing, and by making them do normal tasks (such as setting up a speaker, or tuning guitars).
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Merchandise
Merchandise will play a large role in my social media page, as most (if not all) successful artists utilise merchandise as a way to consolidate and further engage with their main audience. Merchandise also acts as a way to reach out to a wider range of audience, as some people like to be included within an artist's group. The final main reason why this'll be done is in order to increase my artist's revenue, as merchandise can prove to be commercially effective for musicians and other influencers. My main method of merchandise will be through T-Shirts and other forms of clothing, however I may also design hats and other products in order to broaden my media reception. Each piece of merchandise that my artist promotes will have a label of my artist's initials/name, in order to identify it as my own product and further create a sense of branding.
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Media Page Development
It should be noted that when I initially constructed my social media page, my artist was going to be an Alternative/ Rock Band, so virtually all aspects of the page have transformed since then. This is also why the development stages prior to my feedback may not resemble the planning which I have developed above (as I didn't think to change my social media page in line with my change in music video plans
Part 1 of Media Page Development
So far, there isn't much on the page. However I've already developed a plan to include lots of Behind The Scenes photos and videos, in order to make the account feel genuine (as well as actually make some documentations of my production work). I will add hashtags to each post in order to gain media circulation, so the audience reception can further increase the account's authenticity. I've tagged the members of each post accordingly (with their consent of course) in order to show who's participated in the production of my work (essentially creating an informal cast profile for my team). Also who knows, maybe the account could actually become a genuine artist account, depending on it's success.
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Part 2 of Development
I've uploaded a number of posts for my artist's social media, and have made a large amount of progress on the artist profiles for each of the members within the band group. I still have more profiles to produce within the story section of the media page, however I'm more or less finished in terms of ticking off my media page's criteria. I still plan on uploading a handful of footage and photos to my social media page, in order to further build onto its authenticity, and also just to showcase the work I accomplished with my group during the coursework.
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Audience Feedback
I submitted my social media page for audience feedback, and received comments over the appearance of my page as well as the research I developed for this task. There were compliments towards the layout and style of my social media page, my use of merchandise posts led to people giving feedback on the sense of branding which I've created. There were marginal improvements to be made, such as restructuring my account's bio in order to resemble that of an Alternative artist. I also felt that I should add more merchandise posts and live footage, in order to further improve the authenticity within my page, and increase the sense of branding which I'm aiming to create.
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Response to Feedback
After looking through the feedback which I was given, I redid the Bio for my social media page, and added more details to existing events and productions. I also redid the thumbnail of my different story playlists, as I felt that there were more eye-catching images for me to use. There is definitely much more that I will change after I implement larger feedback suggestions which have been given to my music video and overall coursework (the media page development which has been shown in multiple stages was produced when I was focusing on a previous song, however now that I've changed it, I must align my media page more with my current music video and artist.
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Major Changes
After acquiring footage and photos from my new filming sessions for my produced music video, I have changed virtually all of my social media page. I've changed the artist's media page Bio to fit with that of a Hip Hop group (I've used the Black Eyed Peas' instagram page as inspiration), I've inserted new photos and reels to compensate for the content which I've redacted, and I've made entirely new story sections for the Hip Hop duo which I'm creating for the music video. The display also looks highly different as I am screenshotting the instagram page from my laptop rather than my phone.
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My plan for my logo stayed constant, with the red "F" being highlighted in a manner which makes it stand out from the "S". This can be recognised both in the logo for the Instagram page, as well as the logo on each of the merchandise on the right side of the images. This links my social media page directly to my pre-production, and gives a further level of detail to the work which I've produced. The posts of my music artists consist of them doing normal things or just relaxing, further emphasising the idea of connecting them with their audience. These photos are also bright and stylish, in order to attract the viewer's gaze. The story sections on the left side of the images contains the artist names for Damaq and Saif, with Saif being called "Big Saif", and Damaq being called "Yung Maq". The bio for my artist links directly to the Black Eyed Peas
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